Monday, September 3, 2012

The Mercy

by Beverly Lewis

Bethany House

Rose Kauffman is still living in the past with only the memories of Nick Franco to keep her going. After Nick is suspected in his foster brother's death, he leaves the People, which leads to the silencing of his bishop step-father. Known by the community as the "rebel" instead of a grateful son, Nick knows he doesn't have a chance with either Rose or his family. Rose is left with the hope that he will someday return to them, and her feelings for Nick refuse to fade. Will Nick ever come back and make things right with the People, or will she always have to wonder what could have been?

Hen and her husband, Brandon are at an impasse. He insists she will be happy as a modern wife, and she tenaciously clings to her old-fashioned Amish upbringing. When Brandon has an accident which incapacitates him for a time, Hen brings him back to the Dawdi Haus to temporarily live with her and their daughter Mattie. Will they ever resolve the conflict between opinion of lifestyles, or will they loose their marriage to difference of convictions?

This final installment of the trilogy was good despite the rushing of the last 20 pages with Rose's intended. Lewis wraps up everybody's story in this final book, and not everyone has a happy ending. I was actually pleased that not everything turned out the way I expected, which is different from mainstream Amish culture media that exists today.

Lewis has a way of giving us a story that is full of twists and unexpected turns, and even though the end may be relatively happy, it is more realistic to real life in that it's not all sunshine and flowers the whole book through. It has just enough dose of reality to make it realistic. A thoroughly good read, and recommended to anyone and everyone.